I’m sure the article title may sound like a weird question, coming from a blog all about the BUSINESS of photography. But hang with me for a minute, and you’ll see where it really is MORE profitable to be less worried with profit.
I was struck with the question during the Storyline conference. Am I too concerned with profitability?
Like most of you, I’ve spent the last 5-6 years of my life worrying about how much income was coming in. I asked myself these questions almost daily:
- Was a certain part of the business making any money?
- Was it losing money?
- Were there ways to do the same thing in a different way so that it made money or made more money?
That’s business and those are important questions to be asked. I still am asking myself those questions. The problem comes when we don’t pay close attention to where our business, photography and personal life intersect.
Photography, Business, Life
I have built The Collective on the philosophy that business, photography and life are all connected. Focus too much on one and you’ll affect the other 2. You won’t truly have a great business if you don’t also work on having a meaningful life.
When we allow our business lives to take up too much of our other lives we stop doing things that have benefit to us beyond income.
When you started with photography, you loved the art of it. You loved figuring out the lighting and framing of a subject. You loved figuring out how to make someone/something look better in the camera. You loved the art of photography.
Let me ask you this. Do you still love the art of photography? Do you still love to create? Has photography become simply about profit?
When you started your own photography business, you wanted to do it to have more time. More time to give to your family. More time to spend with your friends. More time to invest in other passions. More time to spend doing what you loved.
Let me ask you another question.Where is that lofty goal of freedom? Have you become so focused on creating profit with your business that you have lost your life?
Life is more than profit.
We all have a story to tell. To have a meaningful story when our life is over means the story is about something greater than “me;” the story is greater than profit. Something that kills purpose in your story is and obsession with whether everything you do is profitable.
For my life to truly have meaning, I have to look beyond whether each and every thing I do brings in dollars.
I have to stop worrying about profit.
Image courtesy of stock.xchng.
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